


Moon River (and me)

by Softsangster



Category: The Maze Runner Series - All Media Types
Genre: Bottom Thomas, Deaf Thomas, F/F, F/M, Fluff, M/M, Smut, Top Newt, kinda slow burn, more soft moments than angst, things start on a bad note
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-17
Updated: 2018-04-17
Packaged: 2019-04-24 03:34:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,045
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14347137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Softsangster/pseuds/Softsangster
Summary: Thomas hates to make a lasting impression. It's his name, isn't it? Whilst Newt isn't around to make the slightest impression. He worries more about work than himself, which brings up some problems. But, lucky for him, Thomas is patient. Well, kind of.





	Moon River (and me)

**Author's Note:**

> The title is chosen after one of my favourite songs by Frank ocean. It has such a nice vibe and fits this fic well. Also, I know I have other fics to work on, but this idea I couldn't help jotting down!  
> Please do correct me if I get terms and usage of certain things mentioned! I would hate for this to be inaccurate or offensive.  
> Now, please enjoy

He had his earphones jammed into his ears, as he made his way down the busy streets, heading towards home. There was no sound coming from said earphones, not even a slight hum― hell, they weren’t even plugged into his phone, just tucked carefully into the pockets of his khaki pants. It was his way of disconnecting to the world around him on purpose, so no one could bother him, not that many people did, anyways. But he also enjoyed blending in and feeling like everyone else he saw as he dawdled home; all the people around him suiting bulky headphones or tiny earphones, in their own zone as they made their way to whatever destination they wished.

Thomas liked blending in with them.

Never had he been the type of person that liked to stand out and make a lasting impression, he preferred to just move along with everyone else at his own pace, and keep quiet. He’d always felt like his name was to blame for that. Thomas. To him it felt just like any other forgettable name, but maybe if he was named something cool, he would be cool. Or maybe it was just him, cool name or boring one. Either way, Thomas would choose to go the way that everyone else was going, over taking the risk of going his own way.

Thomas found it comforting to blend in, well, try to anyways. People stared less, said less about and to him, and people had less to tease him about, than say, if he wore that plum purple trench coat with a fur lined collar he had sitting in his closet, over his grey hoodie. It was making smart, comfortable decisions and even though his friends had told him that he sounded ‘brainwashed’ or fit the description of a typical ‘cookie cutter’ person. Sure, it was slightly offensive, but he didn’t mind. He knew that they had his best interests in mind, even if he was quite content as a typical ‘cookie cutter’ person.

He liked feeling normal and not singled out, like he had been at his primary and high schools for something he couldn’t help.

It wasn’t just feeling normal that Thomas enjoyed, but the slight relief he felt when he could replace his hearing aids with earphones; when he could pretend that he could hear the world clearly through simple symphonies and voices, not just slurred beats, so slurred that the most he could do was try to physically feel out the bass from whatever he was listening to, to give him some kind of feeling or beat to move to.

It was also sadenning that Thomas felt said relief because of the insecurities that have stuck with him since school. He was an adult now. He should be able to work through his insecurities, but there were even some adults that made him feel insecure, just because they didn’t understand or have the empathy to want to learn. Not even after seeing a therapist for over 10 years, did it ease his few negative thoughts that surrounded his deafness.

But, using earphones and other small things like that, did make him feel better, even if it did make his friends sad at times.

So, along with the normalcy that Thomas felt with his earphones in, it was also a good cover for the times people cursed loudly at him for accidentally running into them when he lost focus on his surroundings and let his senses escape him, when his four working senses were usually heightened.

“Oi, kid, watch it!” A scraggly bearded man cried out, when Thomas brushed his shoulder. Unfortunately, Thomas couldn’t see his face to read his facial emotions or see his lips to lip read to help assist his slowly failing hearing. So the clueless boy just carried on, turning sharply into his apartment building, oblivious to some of the funny looks he was getting.

Reaching his apartment lifted his spirits, greatly. That funny, off colour door alone sent Thomas to heaven. He was already in the middle of kicking off his shoes, unbuckling his khakis, ready to relax on the couch, hands down his pants, watching netflix, when he opened the door and was greeted with the wonderful, yet conniving smile of his friends.

Thomas regretted giving Brenda and Minho a key, but his mother said it was either that or she would get him a carer to check up on him. Now, his friends could get into his apartment whenever they pleased, not that it bothered Thomas at all.

_‘What did you guys do now?’_ Thomas both signed and said, closing the door behind him.

He had only started finding hearing a lot harder when he was in high school, so he already knew how to speak and what he sounded like. He could still hear, though, it was mainly slurred, almost blurry sounding, but his hearing aids helped a lot. It helped him to hear certain sounds better, instead of having to try and make out voices in the blur of city sounds. So, as easy as signing was to Thomas, he spoke to keep his ‘voice box’ warmed up and for people that didn’t understand what he was signing.

Plopping himself on the couch next to his best friend, Minho, he took out his earphones and threw them onto the coffee table.

Minho glanced over at Brenda, his smile widening, as he did so.

Thomas frowned.

_‘What?’_

“The date, Thomas!” Brenda took a hold of his shoulders, roughly turning him to face her. She signed, of course, but spoke just as Thomas did and that didn’t stop her loud, obnoxious screeching.

_‘It’s the sixth of—’_ Thomas was hushed, when Brenda slapped a hand over his mouth and grabbed his hand.

With her eyes shimmering, a bright smile on her face, she signed. _‘The date Minho set you up on with that guy.’_

Staring at her dumbly for a few moments, Thomas then jumped when he was struck with the memory again. He was going on a date after months of not being able to, due to his own overthinking and bad profiles. So, when Minho said he had a cute guy that he should take out on a date, Thomas hesitated, but he agreed and during that time, Minho gently reminded Thomas that he had nothing to worry about.

Mind you, all Thomas knew was that he was blond, tall, reserved, worked in the law firm beside Minho and that he looked awfully young for his age. That was all Thomas knew, apart from his name, which made him giggle. It was an odd name, one that Thomas wish he had, but that didn’t help the boy’s snort of laughter after being told he was named after a lizard. A Newt. That was his name, Newt, of all things.

Apart from those few details, that’s all Thomas knew. Minho said that he wanted Thomas to know little to nothing so they had more to talk about, otherwise it’d be an awkward date. It was frustrating, but Thomas was forever thankful for Minho at times.

They’d been friends for years, he even learnt ASL (American Sign Language) for Thomas after they first met. Though, they both had big crushes on each other, but decided that their friendship was too good to risk on dating each other. So, overtime, their feelings changed and they set each other up on dates, asked about dates and hookups and even gave each other advice. Thomas was lucky to have such a great friend, even though Minho could be a real dick sometimes.

Reaching into his pocket, Thomas fished out his hearing aids and put them on in record time. They were funny looking little things, but Thomas had gotten used to pressing them in his ear and relying on them to help his hearing.

_‘I forgot all about that!’_ Thomas’ voice had gone up an octave, his hands moving about excitedly, so excitedly that signing felt impossible to do without shaking. Minho and Brenda just smiled at him and nodded their heads. _‘What do I wear? Do I go casual, or formal? Do I need makeup or something? Minho, I’m scared.’_

Minho stood up, pulling Thomas up with him. He didn’t say anything as Minho lead him to the foot of Thomas’ bed, where he sat the trembling boy.

Brenda didn’t follow, but instead got up and made herself a cup of tea to accompany her as she took advantage of Thomas’ Netflix subscription.

“Have you heard of the term ‘casmal’ before?” Minho stared down at Thomas, who was frowning bac at him. The asian boy rolled his eyes and grunted, “It’s casual and formal, ya get it?”

Thomas nodded slowly and continued to frown at Minho, wondering where the hell he was going with this.

 

Turns out that ‘casmal’ is a real word and not just something Minho made up for Thomas to bring up later and make a dick out of himself on this date.

So, Thomas was going for a casmal look and it was rather comfy. The formal, being the button up shirt and the casual, being a pair of jeans. Minho tried to get Thomas to wear a pair of dress shoes, but Thomas refused and instead stuck to a pair of supported sneakers he paid a lot for. Like, a lot. And in all honesty, Thomas rather liked casmal. It was comfy and Thomas liked comfy.

He left his hearing aids in, knowing that they usually speak for themselves, which could be a make or break for how this date goes. Thomas found that funny; a pair of devices that help him to hear just a little bit better, can cause people to reject him because they weren’t ‘brave’ enough to date a deaf person, or they found it weird, or that there was some kind of barrier between them, even though Thomas had told them that he could talk and only with them in could he distinguish voices better.

Trying to push his past dates from out of his head, Thomas moved into a chair that had been reserved for just him, with the other reserved for Newt. 

To say he was nervous would be a complete understatement. He was shaking and steady. He’d started sweating through his shirt already, with his eyes glassy, his nerves eating him up alive. 

Thomas was already a few minutes late, so it was nice to know that he wasn’t the only one running late. Hopefully Newt wouldn’t be too late because Thomas was starving, though his nerves were slowly making him feel full, causing him to worry that he wouldn’t be able to eat when Newt does arrive.

God, he wished he’d seen a picture of him so he knew who to look for. Tall blondes weren’t exactly rare, hell, Thomas had seen one too many enter the restaurant. At every blonde guy that walked in, Thomas sat up in his chair with a bright smile, only to watch them walk past him or to the other side of the room where they greeted someone else with a dazzling, charming smile.

 

 

An hour, an hour an half, two hours, two hours and a half.

It was at two hours and a half of waiting and dismissing waiters that Thomas realized he’d been stood up. To be quite honest, it didn’t surprise him, in fact, Newt showing up would’ve been surprising. But that didn’t hurt any less. Minho had amped him up for this date for over two weeks, so to be let down like this, was beyond embarrassing.

He’d eaten enough bread and had enough chilled water to feed a whole army, so Thomas didn’t stick around to order anything else. He just stood up, thanked the waiter that had been serving him (and just him, not him and his date like she should’ve been) all night and left the building.

Feeling hurt and embarrassment, Thomas knew that he wouldn’t be taking another date from Minho again. He’d been hurt by strangers too many times and given them too many chances. So, as he sadly headed home in his casmal dress up, Thomas mourned the sudden loss of his love life.

**Author's Note:**

> This isn't too long, but I hope you enjoyed it.


End file.
